Berk's New Pest
by Jemerald Goldie
Summary: Whenever trouble stirred on Berk Hiccup would gather his friends to try and fix it, whether Stoick approved or not. However Hiccup had never found himself face to face with a hungry grizzly bear before.
1. Loose Bear, Part 1

**Chapter 1: Loose Bear, Part 1**

A rare occurrence appeared on Berk; sunlight. Its dazzling light shot rays down in rows over the small Viking dwelling island, waking up the residents one by one at the opening day. Hiccup had woken up an hour or so ago and was just gliding around the village on his dragon Toothless, enjoying the warm weather after a quick waking flight. The two soared down to the docks where a fishing boat just pulled in its latest catch. Dismounting Toothless before he even landed, Hiccup ran down the dock boards, nearly reaching the barrel loads of fish before his dragon. But Toothless happened to be quicker and hungrier.

Toothless barged past his rider and buried a face in one of the fish barrels, leaving Hiccup falling into the water three feet below. He gobbled down the tasty, slimy, freshly caught salmon like he never was going to taste it again. The fisherman who was saving those particular fish for trade had his eyes pop open when he saw the Night Fury eating _his_ fish. Yelling and waving his arms in the air, the fisherman tried pushing Toothless away, who so much as flicked his ears in reply, hardly noticing the man.

Toothless licked his lips and looked up at Hiccup only to find in confusion that he wasn't standing next to him anymore. Craning his neck around, Toothless smiled sheepishly when he saw his cross rider spitting water out of his mouth down in the salty water. Using his teeth to pull him out by the shirt collar behind his neck, Toothless purred in embarrassment when Hiccup lightly chided the dragon.

"You useless reptile," Hiccup tried to sound assertive, but couldn't help but smile. In retrospect the little event was a bit funny.

Hiccup apologized to the fishermen about his eaten trade, took his, his dad's and Toothless's share of fish, then flew back to his house at the top of the village beside the Great Hall. Dragging the heavy overloaded rucksack off of Toothless, Hiccup panted from the weight and sat it on the ground with a _plump._

"There you go, Toothless," said Hiccup as he pushed over the rucksack with a foot, its contents of fresh fish sliding out in a slimy avalanche. The Night Fury licked his lips and took care in eating the fish one by one, choosing his favorites first. "You're lucky that fisherman even let you take your share of breakfast after eating his trading fish…"

Astrid, a lovely teenaged girl whom Hiccup was close friends with _and_ had a crush on, came walking up the hill cheerfully. "Hey, Hiccup!" She greeted, pausing at his state. "Why are you all wet?"

"Oh, it's nothing." Hiccup smiled at Astrid. "Toothless just accidently pushed me in the water."

"How long have you been up?" Astrid asked.

Hiccup mused, "…Eh, about since the break of dawn, all thanks to this load of dragon." He gestured at 'all of Toothless' in annoyance. "They should have named him 'Morning Fury.'"

Toothless looked up with perked ears and round, curious eyes at the mention of him, half of a fish hanging out of his mouth. Astrid giggled a little at him and patted his snout before facing Hiccup again.

"I left my axe at the cove the other day during our training session with Gobber… wanna come with me to go get it?" the blonde pulled her bangs out of her eye and smiled at Hiccup.

Hiccup felt delighted to go with her. "Y-yeah, sure! Just, let me go get my harness and- -"

"Oh, well I was going to walk there," Astrid interrupted. "My father wants me to take a break from riding dragons, mainly Stormfly, for all of today. I guess he thinks I forgot what it feels like to take a stroll in the woods."

Surprised, Hiccup raised his eyebrows. "For all of _today?_ I honestly can't imagine doing that. Toothless would kill me if I tried."

"So, you coming?" Astrid asked again.

"Wha-? Oh, yeah! Yeah, I'm coming. Uh…" Hiccup looked over at Toothless and smiled a bit. "…See you later, bud?"

Toothless snorted in disapproval and continued to eat his breakfast.

0o0o0o0

"Catch up!" Astrid taunted Hiccup.

Hiccup grinned and ran towards Astrid, stumbling a little on his way up the hill. He spat out grass, got up, and chased after her again, awkwardly leaning on his right side more than his left. Determined to not look slow Hiccup dug his feet deeper in the soil and pushed on faster. He was surprised at how much speed he was gaining.

Astrid turned her head over her shoulder to check on his progress again only to gasp in surprise as Hiccup lost balance and slammed right into her. The two went rolling down and around the other side of the hill and into the forest, through the undergrowth, and finally halted in a bundled heap under a patch of ferns. Astrid sat up with wide eyes, putting her fingers to her forehead in attempt to remove her dizziness. Hiccup coughed as he lifted his upper body up, leaning against his hands in the grass behind him.

"Wow," Astrid stated. "I… I didn't know you could run so fast,"

"Me neither!" Hiccup agreed rather happily. "I was sure the best I would do was fall in the dirt."

"Especially since we don't run as much as we used to, huh?" Astrid asked as she stood on her feet and brushed herself off. She offered a hand and pulled Hiccup up next to her.

Hiccup swayed on his feet a bit. "Yeah. I would blame the dragons, but I don't find a fault in it." He added half-jokingly.

Astrid stretched her muscles a bit. "Enough talk. I'm looking forward to retrieving my axe at the cove now."

It was about ten minutes later when the two were on their way back to the village after successfully gaining Astrid's axe. Hiccup also discovered his knife was still in the cove pond after kicking it in there all those months ago and twirled it around in his hands rather blissfully. Astrid flinched away when Hiccup's knife flew out of his fingers and stuck into the dirt several inches near her. The blonde gave him an unamused look.

"S-sorry, sorry! Butter fingers," Hiccup said sheepishly as he ran around to get his knife back. As he bent down to pick it up a sound caught his attention that came from the bushes in front of him. Hiccup paused and looked up, brushing his bangs out of his green eyes. It sounded like something heavy was running to him. The sound became more violent, and, sensing something big and most likely lethal, Hiccup grabbed his knife and briskly trotted back to his friend.

"Astrid, did you hear…? What is that noise?" He trailed questioningly. But Astrid looked just as confused. She eyed the area the sound came from for a moment before turning on the invisible trail again.

"Hiccup, let's get out of here," she decided, not wanting to know what the noise was coming from.

"Not arguing," Hiccup agreed and followed after her.

The sound became louder and more rapid, meaning whatever it was started picking up its pace. The teens instinctively went faster, hearts slowly speeding up as the seconds ticked.

Just when the sound seemed like it was right behind them it stopped abruptly.

The two slowed down and listened. "You think it's gone?" Astrid asked.

"I don't know. I hope so," Hiccup whispered back. Nevertheless he still didn't feel safe. "Astrid- -"

His sentence was cut off as suddenly a huge brown bear came crashing through the undergrowth, opening its large jaws in a ferocious roar.

"- -RUN!" Hiccup screamed.

It was about at that time when a light thunderstorm began. Rain pattered against the ground in a rapid calm movement while Hiccup and Astrid leaped to the left and right as the bear lunged in between them in a rage. Panicked and unfocused, Hiccup ran as far away from the bear as possible.

"Quick, Astrid, go, go, go!" He yelled. Looking over a shoulder, Hiccup's heart lurched. "Astrid?" She wasn't beside him.

Right when he was about to turn around and go after his friend Hiccup tripped over a root and found himself falling in open air. With no time to react he tumbled down into a ditch, rolling under an uprooted tree. The wind got knocked out of him for a few moments, and when he was able to breathe again he sat up gasping.

He sputtered out dirt and raindrops, running to the wall of the ditch. He dug a hand in the dirt and tried prying himself up, but lost the slippery grip and slid back down. Frustrated, he tried to listen over the quiet thunder and gentle rain.

Neither bear nor Astrid was heard from Hiccup's sense of hearing, and that made a tight, anxious knot tie its way around his bad gut feeling.

 **A/N: Leave a review to let me know your thoughts!**


	2. Loose Bear, Part 2

**Chapter 2: Loose Bear, Part 2**

Pitter-patter-pitter-patter.

Soft falling rain drenched the dirt in muddy puddles with a draping curtain of grey clouds shielding the sky. Gentle thunder rolled in the distance, the wind swaying the forest treetops in a lulling way. Hiccup took shelter under the roots of a big maple tree in a low ditch, lightly panting after his rush to get away from the bear. His wet hair slickly reflected light back to the sky as he rested his head against one of the straggling roots that stuck out of the sandy dent. He tucked his knees in and unconsciously squeezed some wet leaves on either side of him. Briefly Hiccup wondered in concern about the state Astrid could be in.

Hiccup heard footsteps from behind the maple tree outside the ditch and he stiffened, backing up under the roots. Quieting his breathe, he silently hoped on Thor's name it wasn't the bear.

"Hiccup?"

Relaxing Hiccup shuffled outside of the small dent. "Astrid," He gasped in relief. "I'm down here!"

More footsteps were heard until the battle-ready girl made her way around the tree and to the ditch. She slid down gracefully and glanced at the dirt marks pushed against the ground, signifying Hiccup did not go down by choice. She chuckled a little and squeezed water out her braided hair before taking a seat next to Hiccup. "Crazy out here on Berk, huh?" She asked with a smile.

"I guess." Hiccup laughed. "Attacked by a bear during a thunderstorm… nothing unusual going on here." He glanced at a few scratches on her arm in concern. "Are you okay? What happened?"

Astrid blinked. "Oh, those? That's nothing. I just scraped against a few thorn bushes."

Nodding, Hiccup leaned against the roots again, gazing at the stretching branches and leaves overhead with tired, thoughtful eyes. "Astrid, what would a bear be doing on Berk?" He asked.

Astrid paused. "I… I don't know," she realized. "I didn't know they were common… island creatures."

"I don't think they are. Wonder how it got here." Hiccup mumbled.

Astrid got more comfortable in her spot. "Some traders were here a few months ago bringing in livestock… maybe they misplaced a bear cub."

Hiccup shrugged. "Maybe."

The two fell into silence, blinking the raindrops that escaped through the tree branches out of their eyes. The calm thunder and gentle raindrops nearly took Hiccup off to sleep until something sharp suddenly jabbed him under the rib.

"SWEET PORK N' YAK BUTTER!" Hiccup cried out in pain as he shot forward, instinctively gripping his side. He was harshly shushed by Astrid, who was peeking around the tree with narrowed, concentrated eyes. Hiccup pursed his lips and felt his heart drop as he knew something was wrong.

"It's the bear," Astrid breathed. "Stay down, I'm gonna take a look."

"What? No- -" Hiccup tried to object yet broke off when Astrid chopped her axe in the tree, prying herself with it out of the ditch. She then pulled her axe off the bark and hastily brushed past the undergrowth without so much of a glance at her intelligent friend.

Finding no choices, Hiccup waited for Astrid to get back. He spent his anxious moments by watching rather chipper birds sing and stretch their wings in the rapidly falling rain. One certain bird caught the young Viking's curiosity as it hopped around in the puddles near the end of the ditch above. It sang and danced in the water, its wet emerald feathers glinting in the wane lighting. Suddenly it froze and took to the air with an alarmed cry ringing out of its throat.

Smile turning to frown, Hiccup watched as the rest of the birds answered the call by fluttering into the safety of the trees. Something big was moving along the ground above, out of sight. Hiccup could hear the heavy footsteps and familiar snorts. But he wasn't startled. He knew what was up there. Or rather than, 'who.' He knew it was his bud Toothless.

With a wide grin Hiccup made his way to the wall of the ditch, standing on tippy-toes in attempt to look over the top. "Toothle- -?"

A loud angry shriek cut into his speech. Hiccup watched with horror and bewilderment as he saw Astrid charging directly at Toothless, her axe up and ready to swing.

"What! What! STOP!" Hiccup finally yelled out. "ASTRID, NO!"

Surprised by Hiccup's desperate calls, Astrid looked at him with distracted wide eyes. It gave Toothless enough time to react, and with swift movement he leaped with great buoyancy a few double digits of feet away. He roared dangerously at Astrid, glaring hard at her raised axe.

Staring shocked at Toothless as if not noticing him before, Astrid immediately froze. "Oh Thor- - I- - I thought he was the bear- -" she whipped her attention on Hiccup, looking horribly guilty. "I'm sorry, Hiccup, I- -"

Hiccup only let out a relieved laugh. "Don't worry about it, Astrid. Just put down the axe before Toothless shoots a plasma blast at you."

Doing so, Astrid gave the dragon a sheepish smile and managed to show him her apology by giving him a nice scratch under the chin. After she helped Hiccup out of the ditch with her axe handle she brushed off her hand on her shirt.

"I didn't find the bear… it must have returned to its den or something."

Hiccup shrugged. "As long as it's away from hurting anyone, I'm good."

"Yes," Astrid agreed, " _But_ we still need to tell your dad."

Forcing a chuckle Hiccup reluctantly said, " _Yeah_ … of course."

0o0o0o0

With Toothless now with them they found no point in walking back to the village. Hiccup steered the Night Fury down beside the Great Hall, where a crowd had already formed for a reason unknown to the two teenagers. As soon as Toothless hit the ground Hiccup leapt down and headed straight for the crowd with Astrid close behind. Stoick was at the head of the crowd on one of the Great Hall's stairs, addressing them in a bold yet slightly exasperated tone.

"...we'll need Vikings putting watch day and night around the areas of attack if we're going to catch this animal thief," the chief was saying with his deep and gruff voice. "Spitelout, you'll be in charge of arranging lookout men. Start tonight, and bring weapons."

Hiccup hesitated at the bottom of the steps; animal thief? He hadn't heard about this dilemma before. He grunted when Astrid shoved him forward, giving him a pressing look.

"Go tell him!" she snapped.

Hiccup pursed his lips. He would rather have stayed quiet and listen to what exactly was going on. But when Astrid resorted from pushing to punching he complied and reluctantly trudged up to his dad's side, who was still in mid-speech.

"Dad?" Hiccup began, glancing from the crowd and back at Stoick.

Stoick continued speaking, not even glancing at his son. "Set traps in and out of the woods- - we can't let this animal get away again."

"Dad!" Hiccup repeated louder than before.

"Not now, Hiccup," Stoick growled, turning back to his people with one last thing to say. "Everyone stay on your guard- - we don't know what to expect from this beast." Stoick stepped down from the steps and walked away, signifying the meeting was over. Hiccup paused where he was, daring to look at Astrid for a second. The blonde gave him an icy stare and pointed in Stoick's direction firmly. Hiccup sighed and dragged his feet in his dad's direction.

"Dad, if you can spare a moment…" Hiccup tried, but his father wasn't listening. He was shouting orders as people bustled back and forth around him, working to set dragon traps and load every Viking with a suitable weapon. To add on to the pressure Hiccup couldn't keep up with his father's walking strides, making him have to practically jog to be level. "Dad! Dad, there's something you should probably know…" Hiccup said anxiously, nearly running into a Viking trying to pass by. Awkwardly scrambling out of the way Hiccup ran back up to his father for the umpteenth time, this time grabbing his arm to get his attention. "Dad! This might solve your problem with the animal-thieving thing or whatever."

Stoick turned on his son, his eyes burning with irritation. "Can't you see I'm busy, son? I've got work to do, people to direct, and a trap to plan, so whatever it is you want to say, save it for when I'm free to hear it." When he saw Hiccup's wide-eyed expression he sighed and continued less severely, "You must understand, Hiccup. The people as a whole come first. When the situation is handled, I'll be looking for you. Alright?"

"Alright," Hiccup agreed after a slight hesitation. This was obviously the correct thing to say, as Stoick looked relieved before heading on his way again. As soon as he was out of sight in the moving crowd Hiccup growled in frustration. Practically every time Stoick promised to talk later, it never happened. He either had to work through the night or he would be too tired to keep up with what Hiccup would be saying. If Hiccup couldn't get help from his dad, perhaps his friends would be up to the task.


End file.
